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Thursday 3 May 2012

Entry: Salic law (adj.)


In context: "...and everybody but the staff and littlest kids up front missed most of Tavis's explanation that Salic law'd nothing to do with the fact that there was simply no way the late Headmaster's beloved spouse and E.T.A. Dean of Academic Affairs and of Females Mrs. Avril Incandenza could have become Headmaster: how would 'Headmistress' have sounded?"

Definition: Salic law n. in early use, and still in popular language, the alleged fundamental law of the French monarchy, by which females were excluded from succession to the crown; hence gen. a law excluding females from dynastic succession. In this sense still often spelt Salique and pronounced /səˈliːk/

Other:

SNOOT score: 2

Page: 288
 
Source: Oxford English Dictionary   


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